WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (AP) — An agricultural economist at Purdue University says the value of Indiana farmland likely will be driven down in 2016 due to high interest rates and low crop prices.

Agricultural economist Craig Dobbins tells the South Bend Tribune (http://bit.ly/1Pk3N4f ) that any losses should be moderate and values should fall slowly because there's a limited supply of farmland on the market. He estimates that farmland values will drop 5 to 12 percent throughout the state in 2016 after nearly tripling in value from 2003 to 2014.

The 2015 Purdue Land Value and Cash Rent Survey determined that prices for the state's top-quality farmland declined this year by just over 5 percent, while farmland considered to be average quality fell by almost 4 percent, and prices for low-quality land fell by nearly 5 percent.

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Information from: South Bend Tribune

Copyright 2015 The Associated Press

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